Don't Be late
by Hookemhorns12
Summary: Carmelita was suppossed to be enjoying her friday night, not watching over some diamond. A certain raccoon can change all that.


**AN: Bored as hell, trying to get over writer's block on my STH story, so without further ado, this little one shot.**

Inspector Carmelita Fox was standing watch over a large diamond on display in the Paris National Museum in hopes of a certain raccoon. And for once, she hated it.

"It's Friday night for God's sake! That _cobarde mapache_ had better show up in the next hour or I'm going to go ahead and go the hell home!" she cried angrily to herself. She thought she heard a small buzz from somewhere in the museum, but she ignored it. Slowly the minutes dragged themselves by and Sly had yet to show up. Carmelita glanced at her watch and saw that there was only three minutes left to her one hour time limit, AND HE STILL WASN'T HERE! Screw it, she was leaving. But before she could pick up her jacket, she heard the bolt on the door. She immediately grabbed her shock pistol off the chair and took aim. There, dressed in his usual garb, was Sly Cooper. He casually walked into the room as if it were his own home. He noticed her in front of the diamond and smiled.

"Sorry I'm late, dear, but traffic was like a parking lot today!" He greeted. Carmelita sighed and crossed her arms, leaning against the pillar.

"And by that you mean it took you a few minutes longer to get through the new security system." She responded in a dull tone. Usually she would have been Putting rounds into the air at the sight of him, but tonight, she just had that pit feeling that no matter what she did, he would win again.

"Sheesh, it's like we've done this before- hey wait, why aren't you shooting and shouting?"

"What's the point? No matter what, you're going to have some trick up your sleeve. You've got your two partners helping you, I know that. So why try, you're going to win." Carmelita replied in her state of misery.

"Actually, all I've got on me is my cane. Secondly, I came here alone and broke in using only my thieving skills."

"But you've still got some plan to steal the diamond, right?"

"Maybe."

"Then in that case." Carmelita said, her cop instincts kicking in as she leveled her shock pistol. "Hands up, ringtail."

"Now that's the Inspector I know!" Sly said before dodging a shock blast and sprinting for the fire escape. He smashed the window using his cane and hoped out onto the walkway, immediately ascending to the roof. Inspector Fox leapt over the window sill and flew up to the roof with one jump. She saw Sly use the rail slide to glide from one roof top to the next, and the chase was on. Carmelita sailed across the gap herself and sprinted after her target. She fired a few shots, all of which came within a few inches of the thief. Sly then launched himself off the edge, landing on a fence post that was sticking up a few feet from the others. He proceeded to jump from one to the next before bouncing off an awning and to the roof of the structure. From there he found an electrical wire spanning from that roof top to a taller one, and he ran up it. Inspector Fox saw this and followed suite. Sly ran to the opposite edge of the rooftop and realized with sudden horror that there was no escape route. He turned and gave the vixen, who had her pistol trained at his head, a smirk.

"Freeze Cooper." She growled.

"Doesn't look like I have a choice, now do I?"

"I'm not in the mood for your shit today raccoon, it was supposed to be MY Friday night and you ruined it!"

"Ouch, sorry."

"Argh! Just give me your hands." She said and pulled out a pair of handcuffs. She was in the process of binding Sly's right wrist when an alarm pierced the silence. Both animals realized that that was the alarm at the museum!

"Truce?" Sly asked.

"Truce." And they set off at full speed towards the crime scene. When they arrived, they witnessed from the rooftops as three armed bulldogs burst out of the front door with the diamond! "FREEZE!" Carmelita shouted down to them. But when they saw her, they only ran faster. Sly watched as they disappeared into an alley. Nudging Carmelita, he bounded across the rooftops until he found the desired one. Dropping down with Carmelita right behind him, they stood in combat stances in front of the three canines. The canines, realizing that they were cornered, raised their guns. But too late, for Sly and Carmelita had already leapt into action. Sly knocked the weapon out of the robber's hands and followed up with a downward strike to the head that knocked him unconscious. Carmelita kicked the second man in the "tenders", enough said, and fired a single shock blasts at the third. Sly then ran up and swung his cane like a bat, sending the stunned dog flying to the back of the alley. Both the thief and the cop looked at each other awkwardly. Sly spotted the bag containing the diamond and inched closer to it. In a flash he scooped it up and ran over to the exit of the alley.

"Goodbye inspector!" He called before disappearing into the night. Carmelita sighed and looked over and the three docile robbers. Screw it, she didn't feel like reporting them, plus they already learned their lesson. So without hesitation, Carmelita turned and trudged back to her small apartment.

(The next morning…)

Carmelita's eyes shot open and gave her a large view of the ceiling of her bedroom. She laid in the warm haven of her sheets for ten more minutes before deciding to sit up and head into the den. She flipped on the TV and instantly flipped to the news channel, knowing that last night's events couldn't have gone unnoticed. But the news report was shocking:

Anchor 1: Good morning Paris! Now I'm sure that we're all aware of infamous thief Sly Cooper, and his talent for TAKING things. But did anyone else know about his apparent ability to RETURN things?

Carmelita watched in astonishment as video footage off the crime scene was broadcast on the screen. There, as if nobody had touched it save for the smashed display case, was the diamond. In front of it, was a calling card. HIS calling card.

Anchor 1: Yes it's true. Sly Cooper, world renounced thief, RETURNED the diamond after three armed robbers decided to take it for their own. Why, we cannot say. Perhaps the raccoon has decided to turn over a new leaf? That would be a huge relief for all museum owners! Carmelita Fox, the officer assigned to watch the diamond, has gone missing from the scene after she was seen chasing Cooper out of the museum. But this is some news!

Carmelita stood and walked to her kitchen to make some coffee. After pouring herself a mug of it, she added sugar and began to stir. While she was doing that, she heard a thump from behind her. She didn't turn back.

"Why?" she asked him, still stirring her drink. She strolled over to her kitchen table and sat down, starring at the raccoon through disinterested eyes.

"Because, when I steal something, I want to be the one that actually steals it."

"I see."

"So how're you?"

"Pretty good, you know, BESIDES having the world's greatest thief sitting on my window sill.

"World's greatest thief? I'm flattered Inspector!"

"Yeah, well don't get used to it."

"Have it your way." Sly said, turning to leave. Before he did however, he turned back to the vixen. "Same time next week?" he asked with his usual grin. Carmelita could help but smile at this.

"Sure. But Cooper…"

"Yes dear?"

"… Don't be late this time." And with that, he hopped of the sill.

**AN: Came up with that off the top of my head. Read and review!**


End file.
